Fate's Jest
by zhugeliangsgrl
Summary: Life is a game when fate loves a jest. Pairing: Zhuge LiangxYue Ying. T for violence only.


Well, you all haven't heard from me in awhile…but I figured I would post this one…just not motivated to write fanfiction as of late…

Well, I won't give too much away…enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dynasty Warriors, characters, etc.

Fate brought them together, and love kept them as one. Zhuge Liang's life had never been easy and he hardly spoke about the past. It wasn't something he enjoyed recollecting. It could have been because it struck a string of the lyre of his heart or simply that it meant showing a little emotion. Either way, it was a mysterious past that led him into a decided future. He was but a hermit in his early days, keeping to himself and hording all the brilliance of his mind in the depths of the mountains in which he lived. Many who didn't understand his sensitive emotions might believe him to be cold. But the true man, the essence of Zhuge Liang himself, was so much more than indifference. In fact, those that truly knew him could see it was only an elaborate disguise.

Liang walked the dusty and bustling streets of Nanyang, mostly listening to the peasant talk. The latest around town was of a woman, supposedly ugly in physical appearance, but extremely intelligent. Curiosity must have had sharp teeth if it bit the Sleeping Dragon so hard that he would see about this matter himself.

As he carried his white feather fan to the residence of Lord Huang, he reached a little fence. Flipping his long ebony hair behind his shoulder and taking a deep breath, he pushed open the gate with a screech. Liang strode up to the door and knocked twice. The man was old yet erect with eyebrows so bushy, one could hardly see his eyes.

"Who are you?"

"I am called Zhuge Liang. I wished to speak with your daughter."

The man tilted his head and blinked, a little sparkle in his eye. "Come, Ying is this way." Zhuge Liang rehearsed in his head anything that he could possibly say that would

not reveal his nervousness. After all, it was only a woman. Lord Huang led the junior through the arbored hallway, taking in the beauty of spring as he went. He stopped by a little orchard and motioned toward someone reading by a tree. After thanking Lord Huang, he stepped into the grove. She was too engrossed in the text to hear that someone was in her presence and Liang tried not to stare. He hadn't talked to a woman on non-business relations in quite a long while. Zhuge could already tell that she was hardly hideous. Plain to most men, maybe, but Zhuge Liang was not most men. He cleared his throat.

"Hello, fine day, isn't it?"

She blinked at him and then stood up, "Yes, it is. Pardon my manners, but who are you?" She cradled her book and studied his features. Long black hair. Tall. Broad, erect shoulders. He was young, maybe 20 and already had a mustache and beard. He seemed quite confident regularly but unaccustomed to carrying conversation with the fairer sex. She smiled; there was one thing she had forgotten. The eyes. A beautiful brown, so warm and entrancing like what she wouldn't mind staring into forever. He was handsome to be sure, but what was he really like?

He seemed suddenly dazed that she had spoken to him, but he hid things well. Zhuge Liang took her hand and kissed it, shedding the fear in his voice.

"I am Zhuge Liang, who might you be?"

He smiled and she couldn't help but do the same. It was so wonderful an implement of the warmth in his heart. Lop-sided and knee weakening she couldn't help herself. Then she remembered that she was ugly.

"Yue Ying."

"A pleasure, milady, you must forgive me. I have trouble speaking to women," he admitted.

"At least you are sincere and not some heartless flatterer, who twists his words to gain a woman's heart." He looked at her jaden eyes more closely and her cherry red lips, so seducing. They were enough to make the young scholar sweat. He fanned himself lazily and resumed his nearly emotionless state. "So why are you here?"

"To speak with you, actually, more of curiosity."

"You've heard the rumors then." She turned away and was reminded again of her appearance. Somehow, with this Zhuge Liang she forgot that.

"So far they are all talk."

"Then what did you hear?"

"I heard that you were ugly, but it's clear to me that whoever thought of that was jealous." Yue Ying was shocked. She had never once been told she was pretty in her life. She turned away and wiped a tear from her cheek. He frowned, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just—nothing."

"Oh come, tell me!" He joked, lightening the mood.

"No one's ever implied that I'm pretty before." His eyes shown of sincere compassion and he shook his head.

"Then they must have been blinded by the radiance of your beauty." She smiled at him, content in his presence, content and complete.

Ying and Liang saw a lot of each other after that and began to develop feelings toward the other. It was as if fate had brought them there.

Zhuge Liang paced silently to Lord Huang's door and wrapped 3 times. The elder opened it and smiled.

"Ying is just—"

"Actually, I need to speak with you." Huang furrowed his brow in confusion but allowed the junior to enter.

"What is it?"

"I would like to marry your daughter." He said plainly, "and I wanted to ask you first."

A smile lit up his aged and tired features. "You have my blessing." He patted Liang's shoulder, "She's reading under one of the sakura trees in the grove." Liang smiled, a now more common sight. She saw him and got up, running and nearly knocking him from his feet as she threw her arms around his neck. He blinked once before he smiled ad twirled her around. Slowly they passed through the trees, a little blossom landing in Ying's hair. In a sudden burst of energy, she pushed him into a big pile of cherry blossoms and giggled, running into the open field. He grinned mischievously and chased after her. He fell and tumbled in the sunlight. He laughed and she lay down next to him.

"Well, that was fun."

Zhuge Liang got a sudden serious face with a hint of sarcasm, "No, it is very undignified."

She knew him too well and rolled over to slap him playfully, but he grabbed her arm and she fell on top of him. Their smiles suddenly turned to parted lips. In a moment of passion, or of destiny if you'd rather, she leaned down to him. Their dream-like moment made timeless in the sparkling dances of a lover's fate. In the still of the afternoon and the beauty of the spring, their lips hung but a breath apart. They touched a moment as if all eternity were ending and time stopped just for them. And it was over. Yue Ying stumbled backward, running through the grove, sobbing.

"Ying, wait!" She fell down and crawled to a tree, crying in her hands. He finally caught up to her, "I'm sorry. Wh-what's wrong?"

"No, no, it's not you."

"I'm sorry."

"No, really, it's not you. . .it's me You don't understand. I don't deserve someone like you."

"What?"

"You're smart and charming and handsome. I'm not pretty. As much as I want your love, it is for someone more deserving to have."

Zhuge Liang shook his head and moved the hair in her face behind her ear then he took her hand in both of his and kissed it as delicately as he would an Empress'.

"You know what I'm going to say. You're right. You're not pretty. You're beautiful. Any man who can't see that isn't worth your time." She wiped a tear from her face and he took her hand again, raising her up and then kneeling. "You are the only woman on

the world who makes me feel insignificant." He pressed her hand to his cheek, "Yue Ying, will you stay by my side, as my wife?"

A sparkle filled her jaden eyes, "I am unworthy, but I will not refuse you." He smiled and stood, embracing her tightly.

"Good."

One week later destiny would play them a cruel hand. Liu Bei visited three times, and Zhuge Liang could not resist his tearful pleas. It rained that day. They stood under its path, each within the other's arms. He kissed her forehead,

"I have to go."

"I still don't understand."

"I can help unite the land."

"How do you know this Liu Bei is capable?"

A long pause followed, "He is virtuous." He whispered finally.

"I don't want you to go." She answered in a similar tone.

"Shhh enjoy the moment." A silent hush passed the little hut on the mountainside as the rain soaked them together.

"I'm coming with you. I want to marry you."

"It's dangerous."

"I don't care."

"You could be killed in battle."

"Being apart from you would hurt me more."

"You know this will be a long and troublesome path."

Ying didn't care. In Zhuge's arms she could forget eternity. She nodded and they said no more until she returned to his cottage the next morning to leave for Shu.

Three days before their wedding, a crow perched on the sill of Zhuge Liang's window and cawed for all it was worth.

"An omen."

He thought little of it the remainder of the day, however, the next morning, the rival Wei attacked. The strategist calmly gave orders while searching for his betrothed within the crowds. He found her preparing for battle.

"Liang!"

"You're not going."

"What?"

"It's too dangerous, I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't."

He kissed her forehead, "Please stay here?"

"I can't. I'm going out to battle. You can't say anything to stop me."

He sighed and fanned himself a little, "Be safe."

"I will, don't be so tense."

He smirked and walked out, observing the battle from the top of a cliff, a relic of the Shu spirit as he stood erect in the wind. But destiny dealt a blow that Zhuge Liang could not recover from.

The battle was over and the wounded were transferred to overworked hospitals. But something didn't feel right in the air. Maybe it was the stench of death, maybe it was the blood spilt of the wounded, or maybe—and it was. Two men carried a stretcher sprawled with a battered and crimson-coated girl. Liang swallowed his heart and walked slowly toward her bedside. The men looked at each other and left them be. Liang didn't cry. He couldn't, the shock was too great. Her eyelid fluttered open, the other too damaged to do the same. She tried to prop herself up, but it only left her screaming in pain.

"Don't strain yourself."

"We did it, Liang." She forced up from her mouth as it filled with blood. He put his head down; the tears finally coming as he found the deep wound in her stomach and stopped the blood with his hands.

"I know."

"I'm sorry that I have to leave you like this." Her already struggling throat burned as she began to sob. "I wasn't good enough."

"You are so much more that enough." He held her close. It was said that in Liang's arms she could forget eternity. . . and she did. And she did—for one sacred moment in the jest that destiny had played. Fate brought them together; fate tore them apart. One last breath fell on his neck. One last warmth that he held in his heart, one last moment in what was meant for a lifetime. Until she was gone, a fleeting spirit in the silent death of the wind. Today it bit a little harder than usual. He never talked about her, never loved anyone else again. He became what he was, a slave to his work—all because fate loves a jest and Liang loved Yue Ying.


End file.
